IN-LAND
It was already nightfall by the time Captain Moldovan and his crew finished assembling the five carts they had taken along with them by a brookside near the perimeter of the quasi camp they erected beside a ravine within the heart of the opaque forest.
Before dusk, they had trekked with the merchandise farther inland, spanning forty miles away from the coast through the designated narrow route the Captain had led his armed group of seamen till it was sundown.
As expected of the crew, he was quick to relay an order to his men to rest their weary feet for the night after the waning sun left the sky pitch black, hoping to resume their irksome journey before sunrise.
The crew did as they were told and found a place near the ravine to get themselves comfortable in the night. Donald and Redruth hastily lit up a little bonfire at the rear of the gathering with the little bunch of twigs they broke from the dry plants they found nearby while everyone else with the help of the Captain got the five carts arrayed at the brookside.
Two of Moldovan's henchmen were assigned to guard the carts leaving ten men to sit on the sand with the Captain resting his back on a tree on a ridge above the little bonfire.
The red rays of the fire kept reflecting on the blunt faces of eleven men as silence prevailed over the lonesome gathering. Only burnt twigs snapping into fiery ash at the bonfire and the eerie noise of owls hooting in a distance rolled on accompanied by the serenity of the night.
With his back tilted against the tree bark and his left hand dangling upon one of his knees, Moldovan silently squinted on the men squatting down below him around the fire. One after the other, he watched their reddish faces showing in the fire and noticed three of them grooming the pistols they had brought with them except for Redruth who happened to be one of the two men guarding the carts.
He also saw that Hands had solemnly shrunk himself away from Donald whilst chewing some nuts quietly near the fire in between Bale and Maurice, a bald headed delinquent with sturdy shoulders and height compared to that of Donald. Hands was still nursing his bandaged wounds since he was selected to join the group and it felt odd to the Captain that he was much more respectfully sober than he was when they first arrived on their ship.
With his eyes still squinted, Moldovan glanced at the two men chattering with each other as they stood beside the carts and returned his gaze at the men near him. He caught sight of Donald looking disfigured at the dark woods with his two pistols resting on the sand near his left thigh.
Part of him wished he had brought along the Cook whom everyone in his crew knew to be infamous blabbermouth and was quite bored with his absence.
The thought of the brawl between Hands and Donald back at the ship also flashed through his mind and felt he should act on it but he was so comfortable with his back resting on the tree trunk that he didn't want to leave his cozy spot. Feeling defeated by the silence and his unwillingness to commune directly with his crewmen, Moldovan decided to squint his eyes close to get some sleep first before the others.
Two minutes after shutting half of his eyes, one of the ten men sitting by the fire stood up and turned to leave.
"Where're you off to, Radney?",
Maurice suddenly inquired. The Captain woke up at the sound of Maurice's voice but felt his eyes dizzy under the burning flames as he gently opened them.
"To take a leak",
Radney replied and shook off the sands in his light trousers as well as boots before walking off. Moldovan could barely catch sight of Radney leaving the gathering to his own affairs since he was quick enough to disappear into the woods.
Then he heard a grunt from Hands as Donald shifted closer. To preempt any fights between the men, Moldovan whistled hoarsely at the gathering. They turned in his direction hoping to hear what he had to tell them as soon as they heard him whistle.
"Donald, I want to have a word with you in private",
Moldovan said getting his heavily built body up to leave.
"We can talk here, Captain. Can't we?",
"Nay, not in front of the others. Over there will be fine",
The Captain replied and climbed down the ridge. Donald was not only clouded with confusion but felt extremely nervous about Moldovan's insistence that they talk in private. Donald nervously got up and followed the Captain with traces of apprehension in his face.
Hands and the others, especially Adams, knew at once the cause of their secrecy but they refrained from inquiring to avoid further trouble with the Captain.
The Captain took Donald aside and led him eastward where the half moon was at its peak, in the woods. They stopped in the middle of two smaller trees and stood aloof from the gathering in a position the others could lucidly pick out their odd shape in the moonlight.
In spite of the distress he felt, Donald decided to speak first.
"Captain, I—",
"You already know the reason why I brought you here, don't you?",
"Yes, we do and now, the others knows as well",
"Then you should know that I don't care if the others knows about it but the fact remains, you screwed up real badly back there and I won't think twice than to chop your damn hands off if you use them on my crew",
Donald swallowed hard his anger and restrained himself from letting his temper get the better of him.
"Hands had it coming when he refused to heed my warning",
"Keeping your temper in check would have done you more good than harm"
"How so? It was only right that I put him in his place",
"Sounds convincing but you poorly handled the situation and what worse, you embarrassed yourself in front of a Naval officer",
"It was only a coincidence Master Smollet had to appear at that moment and it is true Hands clearly did that on purpose to upset me",
"That doesn't justify your actions. No one gets to lay a hand on my crew except me unless you want to get a bullet straight into your guts",
Moldovan threatened further and at once, Donald felt insignificant in the eyes of the Captain and cowered his head in fear.
"I know Hands and the others could be picky sometimes but in my crew, everyone else had to put their anger on a tight leash and that includes you",
Donald didn't say anything nor did he react when the Captain prod his broad chest with his right index finger as a sign of warning.
Donald sighed hoping the Captain would stop tormenting him with his words. Moldovan looked away when he noticed Donald was pissed by his reprimands.
"Don't take this the wrong way but I need to keep things simple with everyone particularly you, you understand?",
"Got it, Captain",
Donald replied feebly.
"You do better from now on but I'll cut you off if you dare step out of line—",
The Captain stopped talking unexpectedly the moment they heard the sound of the leaves rustling close by. In a jiffy, the Captain swiftly brought out a pistol from the left pockets of his saggy pants and flung himself against one of tree trunks. Donald did the same and hid himself behind the other tree but he had only his dagger with him and took it out to protect himself from the intruder.
Concealed in the darkness, The duo remained quietly in their hiding places and waited briefly to check out the cause of the rustle.
As they waited, the rustling grew louder and gradually transformed into the sound of a man's footsteps approaching from below the sloppy side of the rocky ridge. The Captain clung tightly to his pistols from where he was hiding behind the tree as he peered with all enthusiasm into the darkness in the direction of the slow but rapidly getting closer.
Moldovan could hardly decipher the face of the intruder but he knew he felt the presence of a man climbing his way up the upper edges of the ridge to where his hiding spot was, when he turned to face the other side of the tree trunk. The oblivious man blindly walked past him and strode further whistling ignorantly into the cold night.
"Freeze right there or face the devil!",
Moldovan cried out as he sprang out of his hiding spot into the moonlight. The Captain gripped his pistol aiming it straight at the man who became demoralized the moment he saw the barrel of the Captain's pistol pointing straight at his forehead.
"Captain, please,..... put away your firearm, it's….me, Radney", the man stuttered, pleading in fright and surrendered his hands up in fear. Donald surreptitiously came out of hiding into the clear after hearing what Radney said but positioned himself behind the intruder and pressed the tip of his dagger against the back of the intruder.